Le Professeur Salvador Peniche Camps de l’Université de Guadalajara (Mexique), professeur invité à l’UCSS, donnera une conférence ce mercredi 20 octobre à 18h en Amphi Cuccaroni.

Spécialiste de l’aménagement du territoire et de l’économie écologique, il abordera les enjeux économiques, politiques, écologiques de la rivière Santiago. La conférence sera donnée intégralement en anglais.

Résumé de la conférence :

25 Years of Academic Activism: The Battle for Lake Chapala and the Santiago River Basin

Lake Chapala is the last major body of water in the Mesoamerican neo-volcanic axis and marks the geological boundary between North America and Mesoamerica. This magnificent hydrological system, the Santiago River basin, which founded the cultural and economic development of western Mexico, became without realizing it, the axis of Prof. Peniche-Camps’ life for more than a quarter of a century.

From the academy he has focused his research efforts on the study of economic, social and ecological conditions, in collaboration with fabulous colleagues, lovers like me, of the lake.

In the multiple battles held against authorities and elite people who have openly, or in veiled terms, expressed their intention to drain the lake, he will remember violent marches, visits to the Senate, or to the presidency, trips to international organizations, books, magazines, reports and many talks with extraordinary people, inhabitants of the communities that live the tragedy and defend the lake every day.

There are many outlandish stories about lake Chapala. It is said that it is a landing zone for extraterrestrial ships, that it is inhabited by Wirrarika deities and demons, that has the gift of sowing erotic love in its visitors. The truth is that the spiritual force that overwhelms Prof. Peniche-Camps’ soul every time he visits it has not diminished one gram since his first visit 25 years ago.